Kersey, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kersey, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Kersey lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Kersey — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kersey — the short answer
Kersey, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 5b, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 994 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 994 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 5b is Kersey's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kersey's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kersey
Each reading below is measured for Kersey itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKersey runs about 170 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredKersey sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Kersey is in
Kersey sits in the North Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Kersey's own centroid rather than borrowed from Elk County.
What Grows in Kersey
Every plant below cleared Kersey's own zone 5b and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kersey?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Kersey
Spotted lanternfly documented 1 miles from Kersey, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Kersey
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kersey. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALLTEL PA NORTH DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- DLS RECOVERYToxics Release Inventory · 1400 ft
- MICALE & SON CONSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- DAGUS MINES GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- BEVERIDGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ST MARY'S PRESSED METALSToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- GKN SINTER METALS - KERSEYToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- MJS MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MODERN INDUSTRIES KERSEY DIVISIONToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- ELCO SINTERED ALLOYS CO INCToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- SPRINGFIELD MUNITIONS COMPANY, LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- CHECON, LLCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kersey's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Kersey.
Total Sites
254
within ~10 miles of Kersey
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
60 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kersey
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kersey
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kersey, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 60 sites within ~10 miles of Kersey. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Kersey
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kersey average
Your land is one point inside Kersey
Everything above resolves to Kersey as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 994 acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Kersey Average
Kersey Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Kersey
- ●One soil character for all of Kersey
- ●Frost dates read at Kersey's scale: May 3 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kersey's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kersey
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kersey, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kersey averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kersey — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kersey average
How we know this about Kersey
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Kersey’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Kersey
When does frost risk typically end in Kersey?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kersey typically lands around May 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 24.
When is the first frost in Kersey?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kersey typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kersey?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kersey sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Oct 6, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kersey?
The federal record around Kersey is a meaningful one — 254 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (105), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Kersey?
From about Sep 20 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kersey's scale — its 5b band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kersey's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Kersey’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Kersey's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 994 acres it covers and 254 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kersey's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kersey's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 20 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 254 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kersey, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kersey's boundary and the 994 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Kersey's own centroid, the North Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Kerseylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kersey's 994 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Elk County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Elk County
- The growing challenges every Pennsylvania grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Pennsylvania
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Elk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kersey's 994 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kersey you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 994 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Kersey-wide figureread your own land →
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